Chapter 26
“I’ve got another one down,” Nolan whispered into his ‘doo-hickey’.
Six had gotten out of the Nissan Armada and the Chevy Suburban that Michael had clocked when they had parked two klicks back.
With Nolan’s capture and Beau’s and Jase’s, that meant we had three left.
They hadn’t made it to the cabin yet. They were communicating via cell phone, which was making them extremely vulnerable.
Simon was inside the cabin, along with Kai, but I was determined not to let them get that far. I didn’t have one of the tranq guns, but I didn’t need it. I had my knife, zip ties, and duct tape. I was set.
I heard a noise to my left. It sounded like a damn gorilla stomping through the woods.
“I’ve got four, forty meters east of the road, approximately half a klick from the cabin,” I whispered into the mic.
I moved fast and quiet, ahead of the man, finding a perfect thicket of shrubs to hide in. This guy kept moving forward in a straight line. Not even bothering to move in a zigzag. Of course he did think that he was kidnapping two women who were vacationing in a cabin, but still…
I’d already cut into the roll of duct tape so I had just the right size strips to slap over any target’s mouth, first thing. I peered through the shrubs, and I could see him. Pearl had not been wrong; this guy was bigger than Jace.
I'd have to cut him down to size—literally.
Hamstring slice, drop him to the ground, slap the tape over his mouth before his brain registered what happened.
Zip ties on wrists and ankles while he was still trying to figure out why his leg wouldn't work.
Cold, efficient, and my ribs wouldn't have to take a beating.
He lumbered to the right of my hiding place and I leaped. My knife found the back of his left knee in one smooth motion—tendon severed, precise. He started to drop with a grunt of confusion, and I was already moving, my hand clamping over his mouth as I rode him down to the forest floor.
The duct tape slapped across his lips before he could process what was happening. His hands came up instinctively, reaching back to grab at me, but I'd already shifted my weight, knee pressing into his spine between his shoulder blades.
My ribs screamed in protest. I ignored them.
"Fight me and I cut the other leg," I whispered in Russian against his ear. "Nod if you understand."
He went still. Smart.
I grabbed his right wrist, yanked it behind his back. Then the left. The zip tie cinched tight around his wrists with a plastic zipping sound. His breathing was coming fast through his nose now—panic starting to set in as the pain registered and he realized he was completely immobilized.
Ankles next. I worked fast, efficiently. Twenty seconds from leap to fully secured.
The Russian made a muffled sound behind the tape. His eyes were wide when I moved around to look at him, rolling him slightly so I could see his face. Not fear exactly. More like disbelief that someone had just taken him down that fast.
"You're out of the game," I told him quietly in Russian. "Stay quiet, you live. Make noise, you don't. Clear?"
He nodded.
I grabbed a handful of leaves and dirt, scattered them over the blood trail. Not perfect, but it would do. Dragged him deeper into the thicket where he wouldn't be easily spotted.
"Another tango down," I breathed into the mic. "Two still mobile, heading to the cabin."
“For fuck’s sake, leave them to us,” Kai practically whined. “This isn’t any fun.”
My lip twitched.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something coming toward me, fast.
Fuck. I’d been too busy congratulating myself for the takedown to notice another Russian coming my way.
Rookie mistake.
He brought up his gun, and I dove back into the thicket of scrub brush, just barely missing the bullet. Another bullet shot into the bushes, then another. I yanked out my gun, grabbed the Russian I’d just tied up, and pulled him in front of me. I needed the cover.
His body jerked as a bullet hit him. I peeked over his shoulder, took aim, and took a head shot, then torso. The Russian went down.
“One more down. Dead.” I said into the mic.
“Last one is on the run, making a frontal assault,” Simon said.
I knew they didn’t have a tranq gun, but they had a plan once they penetrated the cabin.
I tuned them out, knowing they would take out the last Russian.
I focused on the man who had taken the bullet for me.
I turned him over. The bullet had hit him in the shoulder.
Hit the bone, lucky for me. And lucky for him—not immediately fatal, but he was bleeding steady.
His eyes had gone glassy with shock, breathing shallow and rapid.
I yanked the tape off his mouth. "Where's Viktor?"
He just stared at me, teeth clenched against the pain.
"Viktor Sokolov," I repeated in Russian. "Where is he? At your hotel? Coming later?"
"Hotel," he gasped out. "Knoxville. Waiting for... all-clear signal."
Smart. Viktor wasn't risking himself on the initial approach. Sending his expendable soldiers first. Only six here—that meant Viktor had two with him.
I pulled out my tactical first aid kit. The shoulder wound was bleeding but manageable. I packed it with gauze, applied pressure. The Russian grunted but didn't fight me.
"You just saved my life," I told him conversationally in Russian while I worked. "Accidentally, but still. So, I'm going to save yours. After that, we're even."
His eyes met mine. Confusion mixed with the pain.
I secured the gauze with medical tape, then used another zip tie to create a makeshift sling, immobilizing his arm against his chest. The hamstring was still bleeding some, but not arterial. He'd live if he didn't move around too much.
"We’ve got number six," Kai said through the comms. “Thanks for leaving us at least one.”
"Copy that," I replied. "I've got two out here. One dead, one wounded. Wounded one says Viktor's at a hotel in Knoxville, waiting for an all-clear." My blood ran cold. Katherine was in Knoxville.
"Perfect," Simon responded. "That gives us time. Bring the live one in. We need to have a conversation."
I looked down at the Russian. "Hear that? You get to live. For now. But you're going to tell us everything about Viktor's operation. Understand?"
He nodded weakly.
I grabbed him under his good arm and hauled him to his feet—well, foot. He couldn't put weight on the damaged leg. "Lean on me. Try anything, and I'll finish what your buddy started."
We made our way slowly through the woods toward the cabin, him hobbling, me supporting more of his weight than my ribs appreciated. Behind us, the other Russian lay dead in the undergrowth. The forest was quiet again except for our labored breathing and the crunch of leaves underfoot.
Six Russians down, one dead. But Viktor was in Knoxville and so was Katherine. I was not waiting around for the debrief. I was going to Knoxville.
For the first time since we started the mission, I took my phone off do not disturb, and saw the messages from Katherine.
“Holy fuck,” I breathed out.
All of the men in the cabin looked up, including some of the Russians who were tied up on the floor.
“What?” Jase demanded to know.
“Russell actually listened to Sophie’s voicemail from the plane. He flew commercial to Knoxville. He’s with the girls at their hotel.”
“Now?” Nolan asked.
“The last text was forty-five minutes ago.”
I pressed in Katherine’s number.
We’d found a set of keys for the Nissan Armada in one of the Russian’s pockets. “I’m headed for Knoxville.”
“You don’t even know where Viktor is,” Nolan protested.
“I’m not going after Viktor, I’m going for Katherine.”